


Hidden Behind the Lies

by mercy_angel_09



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Angst, Behind every lie is a grain of truth, Gen, I'm Sorry, I'm so sorry, don't ask questions you don't want the answer to, little white lies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-14
Updated: 2013-04-14
Packaged: 2017-12-08 12:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/761136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercy_angel_09/pseuds/mercy_angel_09
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra tells Tarrlok's mother two stories. One ends well enough, but the other ends in tragedy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hidden Behind the Lies

**Author's Note:**

> Here, have some soul crushing angst. I got this little plot bunny and the bugger settled himself right in and refused to budge until I wrote the fic. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

The shouts of the vendors sent a thrill through Korra from her nose to the tips of her toes. It had been a long time since she’d been with her people, the people of the Water Tribe, she hadn’t realized how homesick she had truly been until she and her friends and pulled into the capital of the Northern Water Tribe and the sounds and smells hit her like an earth disk in the Pro-Bending Arena.

“Glad to be home?” Asami asked with a grin as they meandered between the market stalls.

“Well, this technically isn’t home, that’s the South Pole, but yeah, it’s good to be back in the snow and the ice. Even if my cousins drive me up the wall,” she replied with a laugh.

“Seems to me that Bolin’s a little sweet on Eska,” Asami said with a wink and a nudge, and Korra had to clap a hand over her mouth to keep the gales of laughter at bay. As if Bolin were Eska’s type. Though…maybe he was. It had been years since she’d seen her cousins, and as well as Korra could remember, they were both polite and proper to the point of extreme annoyance.

“If it makes you feel any better, Bolin complimented Desna on his hair yesterday, thinking it was Eska,” Asami snickered as she leaned down to examine a display of necklaces carved from turtle-seal shells.

“Man, I would have paid to see that.”

“It was pretty funny. I think Desna had a hidden side, since he started flirting with Bolin after.” The Sato heiress bit her lower lip to keep from laughing. “I have never seen Bolin so mortified before.”

“Aww, poor Bo,” Korra giggled as she moved onto the next booth. She smiled at the vendor, who bowed in response.

“Avatar Korra, it is an honor,” he said. “Please, if anything strikes your interest let me know.”

“Thanks, will do,” Korra said, eyeing the traditional hair ties.

“You need new hair…bobbles?” Asami asked as she picked up a piece of whalebone that had been carved and painted blue.

“They’re traditional hair ties and I’ve been wearing them my whole life. I see no reason to stop now,” Korra shrugged. “Besides, there’s a bigger variety here than in Republic City.”

“Um, excuse me?” a voice said from behind Korra. Asami peered around her friend and noted the old woman standing behind her. Nudging Korra, Korra turned and blinked in surprise to find that someone had managed to get that close to her without her noticing.

“Um, can I help you?” Korra asked, uncertain as to why some random woman in the market would be approaching her. It wasn't uncommon, of course, but people rarely approached her without asking for something.

“You’re Avatar Korra, correct?” the woman asked.

“Yes, I am. Can I…help you?” Korra asked. She wasn’t sure she could help, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask anyway.

“I think you knew my son.”

“I…did?”

“Yes, you came here from Republic City, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“My son, he’s…he’s Councilman Tarrlok.”

Korra hoped that her face didn’t show the sudden discomfort that washed over her. She heard Asami let out a soft gasp behind her before turning to browse the stall in hopes of distracting herself. Swallowing the knot in her throat, Korra schooled her features into what she hoped was gentle compassion. “Yes, I knew him.” She winced when she saw the woman blanch at her use of past tense. She was walking on a knife’s edge, and she had a decision to make. Lie, and preserve the precious memories this woman had of her son, or tell the truth and shatter everything she believed about him.

Taking a deep breath, Korra made her decision. “Councilman Tarrlok was captured by the Equalists. We believe that Amon took him hostage when he fled the city, in hopes of using the councilman as leverage. We found boat wreckage not far out of Yue Bay. The United Forces believe that Councilman Tarrlok sacrificed himself to stop Amon.”

The woman nodded. “I…I see.” She swallowed as she looked down at the toes of her mukluks. “Thank you for telling me. I hadn’t heard anything from him in months…I was worried…”

“I have no idea why no one contacted you to tell you of his passing,” Korra said as she reached out and put her hand on the woman’s shoulder. “But I assure you, Tarrlok did whatever he had to do to protect the city.”

Oh she knew she was going to get a tongue lashing from Aang about lying the next time she meditated, but she consoled herself with the thought that they weren’t total lies. Beneath it all were the tiniest grains of truth. Tarrlok really had sacrificed himself to stop Amon, or so the United Forces had gathered based on the wreckage of the boat and the lack of bodies floating in the water. He’d also done what he had felt he had to do to protect Republic City from the Equalists, even if it meant abusing his power as a city councilman.

“Thank you for telling me, Avatar Korra,” the woman said. “Good bye.”

“I…good bye,” Korra murmured as the woman shuffled away. Soon she was lost in the crowd, blending in with the sea of white and blue clad bodies of the market.

Shoulders sagging, Korra went back to aimlessly browsing the hair ties, combs, and clips in the stall, but everything blurred before her eyes.

“Korra, are you sure you should have done that?” Asami asked after several minutes of Korra staring at the same decorative comb.

“Done what?” Korra snapped defensively.

“Lied to her,” Asami answered as she took Korra’s arm and began to guide her back to the palace.

“Do you think that telling her the truth would have helped her?” Korra asked in reply. “To tell that poor woman that not only was the son she thought dead was still alive, and terrorizing Republic City in some twisted game of revenge, and that her other son was a slime ball politician who made a game out of manipulating and using people in the name saving it? What would that have accomplished other than breaking her heart?”

Asami sighed. Korra had a point. The woman probably wouldn’t live much longer anyway; there was nothing to be gained by ruining the few happy memories she had of her sons.

The rest of the day Korra was unable to concentrate, which led to her fidgeting during dinner, arguing with her cousins before bedtime meditation, and finally the inability to fall asleep. Korra had tossed and turned for hours but she wasn’t tired. Instead she kept thinking about that woman, the woman that Yakone had fallen in love with. Asami was right, it wasn’t fair to lie to her, but it also wasn’t fair to destroy her last bit of happiness in believing that her son had died a hero.

Still feeling restless, Korra snuck out of her bedchamber and towards the pen where Naga was being kept during their visit. Opening the gate, Korra called to her animal guide. “Naga, are you awake?”

The polar bear-dog didn’t lift her head, but her tail hit the floor of the stall letting Korra know that while she wasn’t totally awake, at least she was conscious enough to recognize that her owner was the one approaching her.

“Hey girl, what do you say to a run?”

At the “r” word, Naga’s head was up and her ears were pricked and alert.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Hang on a second, I need to get your saddle on.” Once Naga was properly harnessed and saddled, Korra quietly led her out of the city to the open tundras where she could let loose. For what it was worth, Naga probably needed a run and it was easier to take her through the city when the streets and canals weren’t crowded with people whose first reaction to a polar bear-dog would be to run in fear.

With the wind whipping her hair, Korra felt the weight of her guilt rise off of her. In the end it hadn’t been her fault, not really. There was nothing that she could have done to stop them. Tarrlok had begged her to put an end to their sad story, but she hadn’t been strong enough.

Instead he had to end it himself.

Korra let Naga run, paying little attention to what was around her. She was so caught up in her thoughts she barely noticed the figure at standing near once of the ice cliffs. It was a dangerous place to stand, as the ice could give way at any time, and growing up Korra had heard stories of people who had been standing there one moment and then gone the next, with no other warning than a loud crack and then a whoosh as the ice slid into the ocean below. Fearing for the person’s safety, Korra urged Naga towards the figure, slowing the polar bear-dog down and then walking the rest of the way. No point in pointlessly putting them all in danger, even if she was a fully realized avatar.

“Hey, um, excuse me? Are you okay?”

The person turned and in the light of the full moon reflecting off of the snow, Korra saw that it was Tarrlok’s mother. There was a hardness in her violet eyes that wasn’t there before, and her mouth was set in a grim line.

“I wish to know what really happened to my son, Avatar Korra.”

Korra took an instinctive step back. “I told you…”

“I want the truth.”

“It was the truth.” Korra closed her eyes and sighed. “In a way.”

“So it wasn’t the whole truth.”

“N-no. There’s more. A lot more.” Taking a deep breath, Korra released it before launching into the events of the previous months. There was a distinct reason why Korra didn’t want to tell the whole truth. The whole truth was heart breaking and ugly. Closing her eyes, she continued on without having to watch the woman’s features crumble as each belief she’d held of her son was cruelly ripped away from her.

When Korra finished, the woman stared at her for a moment before speaking. “Why would you tell me all of that?”

“Because you asked me for the truth,” Korra mumbled. “So I told you.”

“I just can’t believe that everything was a lie.”

“I don’t think everything was a lie, but your husband was a dangerous man and he turned your sons into weapons. They tried to fight it, but in the end they became what he wanted. I…I didn’t want to tell you because I wanted your last memories of your sons to be good ones. I didn’t see a reason to ruin what little happiness you had left.”

“I see.” Tarrlok’s mother took a few steps away before looking at Korra again. “I appreciate your honesty.”

Korra nodded, unable to find words to express what she was feeling. There was a mixture of regret and relief, as well as confusion and anger. Why hadn’t she done more to stop them? Could she have done more than she did? She would never know.

She didn’t know how long she stood on the cliff’s edge, musing about her failures in Republic City. Only when a sharp whine from Naga broke the silence was Korra’s reverie ended. Looking up at her faithful companion, Korra sighed. “Come on, girl. Let’s go.”

One of the benefits of an animal companion was that they didn’t ask intrusive questions when one would rather be left alone, and so Korra and Naga ran back to the capital city in silence. They managed to get back to the palace without drawing any attention to themselves, and Korra slipped back into bed, her mind and body completely exhausted.

The truth hid behind lies, and sometimes it was better to leave questions you didn’t want answered unasked.


End file.
